The Betrayal
by Terriermons
Summary: [[[[[Spoiler Warning!]]]]]Van has offered Luke an alternative that could possibly cause him to betray his friends.  Will he join Van, or double cross him?  Luke makes a discovery that could change the future of Auldrant.  Set near the end of the game.
1. Chapter 1:  The Betrayal

**Chapter 1: Betrayal **

The sound that the elevator made on its way to the city levels of Eldrant was a telltale thump to Luke. He was about to make a monumental move. He was going to reveal something that he had been hiding from his companions for months. He still wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do.

When the elevator stopped, one final dull _thud_ sounded and the doors slowly creaked open. The six warriors (and the cheagle) stepped out of the elevator and gazed at the glory of Eldrant. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of a pure white marble with not a single trace of a black vein. It was breathtaking.

Legretta took the opportunity to attack while they were standing there struck dumb. She dismissed a warning shot from her handgun, then jumped down to the space that had been cleared by it.

Five people and a cheagle gasped. The sixth, Luke, didn't. He stood there, staring at Legretta. He was about to make the hardest decision in his life. Luke slowly stepped forward to join Legretta in confronting his five friends.

The cheagle jumped down from his shoulder. "Master, what are you doing?" Its squeaky voice resonated in Luke for a moment. He regretted doing this, but there was not other way.

"Luke! What do you think you're doing?" Natalia stepped forward from the group of people to glare at him.

"I…I'm…"

"He has finally come to his senses and is joining the side that will win." Legretta had venom in her voice as she spoke to Natalia.

"What do you mean 'come to his senses'!? This is crazy! Why would Luke want to join you!?" Anise had tears in her eyes as she screamed at Legretta.

"Because, little girl. I told you, this is the winning side. This is the side that shall win the battle that decides the fate of Auldrant. We can't have you getting in the way, so we have had Luke keeping tabs on you since you lowered the Outer Lands."

"I'm sorry, guys. It was the only way that I could stay alive. Van came to me and offered me a way that I wouldn't disappear if I neutralized the miasma. I had to take it, I couldn't hurt you…" Luke's voice faded as he looked down. He couldn't meet their eyes anymore.

It was Tear's turn to yell at Luke. "You couldn't hurt us? Well, what do you think you're doing now? Did you think that joining our enemy would keep us safe from being hurt?"

Luke looked down, ashamed of himself. Legretta came and took his hand. "You're doing the right thing, Luke. If you'll excuse us, we're going to join Van and Sync. We have to get Eldrant off the ground again now that you crashed it." The last words were spoken to the five remaining fighters who opposed Van.

"You won't get away with this! We know you have Luke brainwashed, or something! You came to him during a time that he was troubled and confused, and you manipulated him. He'll come to his senses again, and this time see the world as it should be." With every word he said, Guy edged closer to the pair. When he was within striking distance, he drew his sword and charged at Legretta…

Only to be blocked by Luke.

"Luke…what are you doing?" Guy struggled against him, trying to get the best of him.

"I told you...don't make me say it again…"

"He is betraying us. Plain and simple." Jade twirled his glasses on his finger. At the word 'betraying', the other four winced. It wasn't a nice word to apply to your former friend.

Legretta turned around and began walking away. "Come, Luke." Luke pushed Guy away and turned around as well. He ran to catch up to Legretta. As he ran, he turned his head back and mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' to the others, who all stood there staring after the two.

Tears were streaming down Natalia's face. "I can't believe it…he…betrayed us…"


	2. Chapter 2:  Another Betrayal

**Chapter 2: Another Betrayal **

Luke was gazing at the volumes and volumes of literature on the bookshelves when Van entered. Knowing who it is, he did not turn around.

"Do you see anything you like?" Van crossed to his desk and set down a few tomes, making a cloud of dust emanate from them.

"Nothing that really catches my interest." Luke turned around and stared at Van levelly. This had been one of the few times that Van had bothered to confront him in the past few days. He figured that if he was going to be helping him now, he at least deserved the consideration that Van would give an ant.

"Well, if you see anything later, feel free to look at it. That's what they're there for."

Luke grew tired of Van's small talk. It's all he ever did anymore. He would talk about the weather, the tiles on the floor, the books on the shelf, or really anything that would avoid the true subject that was looming above them. This instance was turning out to be no different.

Van walked over to the door that connected to his lab and punched in a code. After the door slid open, he stepped inside, locking the door behind him.

"That was a short conversation." Luke crossed to the books Van had left on his desk. They had to have something to do with what was going on. The two top ones were nothing interesting. They were just a couple of textbooks on fomicry. Luke wouldn't understand them even if he was interested enough to read them. The bottom one, however, did catch his interest. It was ancient, and falling apart at the seams. The binding was worn and the pages were ripping. This thing looked as if it had come from the times of Yulia herself.

And in fact it may have. Its title was "The True Nature of Auldrant."

Just as Luke flipped the cover opened, he heard the beeping of the pinpad that unlocked the door. He closed the book and stacked the other two on top before Van stepped back in.

"I must depart again, but I will be back soon. You should stay here. I wouldn't want you to be caught up in this mess."

"Where are you going?"

"I can't tell you right now, but all will become clear to you soon."

"That's what you've been saying for the past week. If I am going to trust you, why can't you at least tell me a little bit of what we're trying to do here?"

Van looked stricken for a moment, but then recovered his cool. "I can't tell you because it is not your place to know yet. We shall leave it at that."

Van started to move towards the door, but Luke was closer. Luke stood in front of it, blocking Van's path.

"Luke, there is just so much you don't understand. But right now, I have much more pressing matters to attend to. Let me by. I will let you know everything in due time."

Once again, he was trying to weedle his way out of a situation that made him uncomfortable.

"No. You can tell me now, or I will leave here right after you. I have other people that care for me more than you do, and who would be happy to see me again."

Van once again looked stricken. Apparently, he hadn't considered that Luke would switch his allegiance again so easily.

"Luke, you don't know what you are saying. Show a little patience. As I have said, all will become clear to you in time."

Luke was fed up with Van. He turned around and opened the door, exiting Van's office. He hadn't gotten ten feet, however, before a strong hand grabbed his shoulder.

"Luke…don't leave. I will tell you some things, but not everything. The most important thing, though, is that you do not leave." Van moved to the front of him and looked him straight in the eyes. He pushed Luke back into his office and sat down at his desk.

"The world is dying, Luke. There is not much we can do for it now. Since you and your so-called friends have gone around and cut off the flow of Seventh Fonons, you have put Auldrant in grave danger."

"I have already heard this from you before, Van. It is not like it is some great secret. We have known that from the beginning. That is why I am trying to help you create a new world of replicas."

"Yes, well there is something I haven't told you. It would be better if I read it from the book, instead." Van shuffled the books so that the bottom book was set before him. He flipped through pages until he found a passage, which he read aloud.

_…And so, it is the true nature of Auldrant _

_That the Seventh of Fonons does remain vital _

_To the land's very existence. _

_The gates of Attraction and Emission, opposite on the planet _

_Shall be the entrance and exit _

_To the planet's life. _

_Should the flow be disrupted, the days of Auldrant's existence _

_Would come to a slow end… _

Luke stood there, looking more than slightly confused. "What is that supposed to mean?" 

"It means that Seventh fonon is what keeps Auldrant alive. All of the other fonons combined are not as important as the seventh. And now that you have shut down the Absorption and Radiation gates, there is no fuel left for the planet, and it will slowly die."

For another moment, Luke stood there, his head swimming. If what Van said was true, then he had been the cause of the death of Auldrant. All this time, Luke was under the impression that the battles fought and the natural occurrence of events had been what caused Auldrant's downfall. In reality, however, it had been him.

Him and his band of sidekicks, who still did not know that they were battling for the death of Auldrant. 

"The only way to preserve life is to create a world of replicas before the seventh fonons completely disappear…" Van seemed to be muttering to himself, yet his words gave Luke an idea.

"There may be another way. We could always attempt to reactivate the Absorption and Radiation gates…"

"Don't you think I have considered that? There is no possible way to gather enough seventh fonons to get the flow moving again, however."

"There is a way. We could free Lorelei, and return the seventh fonon to this world, if only for a few fleeting moments. It would be long enough to get the flow moving again, though, wouldn't it?"

"We already discussed this, Luke. I need Lorelei's power to use fomicry. We can either risk it on reactivating dead gates, or we can use it to create a replica world, where life can continue to exist."

"Well, obviously, we should try and get the gates running again! Your replica world suggests that we should wipe out humanity and recreate it. You know I've been against that from the beginning!" Luke slammed his fist on Van's desk, nearly in his face now.

"There is no option here, we have but one course of action, and I will see to it that it is taken. End of discussion." Van stood up and left his office swiftly, no doubt on his way to his next big mission that would lead to the eventual destruction, then recreation, of Auldrant.

"I can't let you do that. I hate to gain a reputation for a turncoat, but this has to be done." Luke knew nobody was listening. He also knew that he couldn't go back to his friends and present this idea to them. They wouldn't accept him now, not after what he'd done. And he had already failed at convincing Van.

If Luke was going to reactivate the Absorption and Radiation gates and get the flow of seventh fonons moving again, there was only one thing he could do.

He would have to ask Asch for help.


	3. Chapter 3: An Unlikely Ally

**Chapter 3: An Unlikely Ally**

As soon as he left Van's office, he realized that he didn't even know where he was going.Sure, he could run around the world all he liked, and be able to find his way, but he didn't know where to find Asch. Naturally, he would be hard to find as usual.

Luke figured the best place to start looking was the last place that he had been seen. Van told him that Asch had been seen sneaking around Eldrant, so that would be where Luke started looking for him.

When he arrived at Eldrant, and boarded the elevator to go up, an overwhelming sense of guilt came over him. He was a traitor. He had betrayed his friends, and was about to arrive at the place he had done the dirty deed. This was obviously not a very comforting thing to think of when he stepped out of the elevator.

Of course when he did step out of the elevator, he was greeted with just how big of a job it would be to actually find Asch on the off chance he was in Eldrant. _Well_, Luke thought, _I'm already here, I may as well look around a little bit before I go on._

The white-washed walls of Eldrant glimmered with the sunlight that was coming in through the skylights, making it seem as if Luke was walking around in a dream. That's what it felt like, anyways. He couldn't imagine doing the things that he did, and ever having his friends forgive him and take him back. That was the price he had to pay for the world, though.

He was only walking around for about an hour before he heard the sounds of a battle coming from behind a door. Luke approached the door, only to find that it wouldn't open. Pulling the door didn't work any better than pushing it. The door just wouldn't budge.

It was while he was trying to think of a new way to open the door that Luke was smacked in the face with it. When he recovered and stood up, he was greeted by the sight of Asch running at him full force, with a gaggle of soldiers behind him. After he sidestepped to avoid being taken down, he watched as Asch swiftly ran over to a circle on the floor and pressed his hands to it. Thin blue tendrils of light reached out from the circle, and when the reached the door, it slammed shut again. Luke could swear he heard the clink of armor smacking against the door full force.

When he turned around to regard Asch, he was startled. Asch was bloody and beaten up, really in no condition to be helping him.

"What are you doing here, Replica?" Asch wheezed the words out, seeming to do it with great effort.

"I could ask you the same thing. You look like you got beaten pretty bad."

"Heh, yeah, you could say that. But quit being evasive and tell me why you came. You joined up with Van, right? So is there any reason I shouldn't kill you right now?"

"I really don't think that you're in any position to be making threats. Let me help you out of here, and then we'll talk."

"You idiot! I won't accept help from a traitor!" Asch yelled at Luke as he ran towards him with his sword raised. Halfway to him, however, he stumbled and fell to his knees.

"Can't you just accept my help for once? If I don't help you who knows when some band of guards will come along and kill you?"

Asch looked up at Luke with anger in his eyes. However, there was also a trace of submission in them. Luke walked over to him and helped him to his feet. As they made their way back to the entrance of Eldrant, Luke decided to present his case to Asch, while he was allowing him to help.

"Asch, the reason I came here today is to ask you for help." Luke braced himself for the onslaught of insults and yelling that was bound to come from this combination of events.

"Ask for my help? Yeah, right, like I would help a traitor." Asch said this in a surprisingly calm voice, the opposite of what Luke thought would happen.

"You haven't heard what kind of help I need yet, though. This is important, more important than you or me or Van. This is about the entire world."

"Isn't it always? Look, you chose your friends, and then you chose to go against them. I'm not going to help somebody who goes against everything they risked their lives for."

"You know what Van is planning. He thinks that by using Lorelei's power, he can create a world of replicas, starting with Eldrant. He wants to replace everybody in the world with a replica…" Luke stopped and looked at Asch's face. His eyes were closed, but he appeared to be listening (his famous scowl was on his face). He continued, "For the past couple of months I have been fighting to prevent him from doing this, and instead restore Lorelei. But now, I know that it will not be enough to do just that. We have to do more…"

"What more do you think we can do? We're just humans, there is only so much that is within our power."

"I think that we should use Lorelei's power to restore the flow of Seventh Fonons through the Radiation and Absorption Gates."

"Are you an idiot or something? The whole reason we stopped the flow was to prevent the creation of any more replicas, and stop the score from dictating our lives. If we did that, it would undo all that we've managed to do."

"I know what you mean, but there is a chance that we could restore the Seventh Fonon, revive Lorelei, and allow the original Auldrant to survive, instead of eventually fading due to the absence of the Seventh Fonon!"

"Fade away? The Seventh Fonon is nothing but a nuisance; it doesn't do anything for this planet." Asch coughed, and became a little bit heavier on Luke's shoulder.

"No, it's one of the things Van told me. He told me that without the Seventh Fonon, the world will die. It was written in one of Yulia's texts. It's why he wants to create a replica world."

"Well, I suppose if it comes from Yulia, it must be true. I still find it hard to believe it though, since I haven't seen it with my own eyes."

"I can take you to see it. It's in Van's office in Belkend."

"Heh, Belkend…that's pretty far from here. You're going through a lot of trouble to convince me."

"Nothing is too much trouble to save the world."

**Author's Note**

Due to the fact that in this game, the whole plot surrounding the Seventh Fonon is kind of shaky and confusing, I am writing it as I interpreted it. It may not be completely correct, so if it isn't, bear with me. It should be pretty darn close, though.


	4. Chapter 4: Reverse Psychology

**Author's Note:**

I would like to send my thanks out to Murmurer for helping me brainstorm for this chapter, and contributing greatly to the overall development of the story from here on out.

**Chapter 4: Reverse Psychology**

This was proving to be a much harder thing to accomplish than Luke would've thought. When he and Asch arrived in Belkend, they were met with a very distressing scene. A group of scientists were standing outside studying the wreckage and flaming debris that was, hours ago, the Fon Machine Lab.

"This is…" Luke approached the group of onlookers and recognized Spinoza in the crowd. He attempted to approach him, but before he could draw near, Spinoza had noticed him and found a quicker route.

"Luke! What are you doing here!? " Spinoza hurried through the rest of the crowd, stopping in front of Luke.

"Well, erm…we were here to get into Master Van's office, but…" Luke glanced at the burning remains of the laboratory, dread filling him.

"Well, as you can see, the Laboratory is no more. In fact, it is suspected that Van is the one that did this."

"Why do they suspect him? He's got just as much research to lose as anybody by all this."

"Yes, well, that's the point. Van had a lot of research in that building that would get him into a lot of trouble, so it's just too convenient that the building caught on fire and all of his documents are gone."

"Luke! What's taking so long?" Asch walked over to the two chatting men and glared at Luke. "I don't have all day to stand here. If you can't prove to me that all of the things that you said about the Seventh Fonon are true, then I'm leaving."

"Asch, you can't just walk out on me! After all, even if I can't prove what I said is true, there's no way you can prove it's wrong!"

"Well….er…hmph. That's what you think. I'll find a way to prove to you that this mindless babbling is all a bunch of nonsense. In fact, I'll just ask Spinoza."

"Ask me what? I don't want to get caught up in you two's quarrel. I've got enough problems to deal with now that the lab burned down."

Spinoza began to walk away, when Luke interrupted, "Wait! I bet you can verify what I'm talking about, Spinoza. Tell me this: Doesn't Auldrant need the Seventh Fonon to survive?"

Spinoza looked uncomfortable for a second, then mumbled, "Well…yes…but-"

"AND! Isn't the only way to facilitate the existence of the Seventh Fonon through the Planet Storm?"

"I suppose so….but…"

"So, the only way to save Auldrant is to reactivate the Planet Storm through the reactivation of the Absorption and Radiation Gates."

"All of the things you're saying are true…but…"

"See, Asch? Spinoza, one of Auldrant's greatest scientists confirmed the things I told you. Is that enough proof?"

Asch hesitated, then, "Well my supp-"

"Now, wait just a moment," the old scientist interrupted, "You wouldn't let me say all that I wanted to. First, yes, everything that you said is true. There is, however, more to it. Reactivating the Absorption and Radiation Gates would take an immense mass of Seventh Fonons that we just haven't got lying around. And on top of that, we would need some way to stabilize the gates so that they did not go out of control again. While your plan is a noble one, it just has too many flaws to be beneficial in the end."

"Well, we can solve one of those problems…" Luke looked at Asch. "An enormous mass of Seventh Fonons is actually pretty easy to come across. It resides inside Van, and we know it as Lorelei."

"Ha! So you think you can just use Lorelei to reactivate the Planet Storm? Well, good luck with that! How do you plan on freeing Lorelei to do it? And, what about when the Sephiroth go out of control again? What then?"

"Spinoza, with all due respect, why are you asking us? Shouldn't you be the one helping us with that part of our plan?" Asch folded his arms, and Luke looked at him incredulously.

"'Our' plan? Does that mean that you're on board?"

Asch turned to Luke with a sly smile on his face. "You said it yourself. How can I tell a world famous scientist that he is wrong about something that I know virtually nothing about?"

"Wait a minute, now. I didn't say I would help you!" Spinoza's face was starting to turn red with anger. "You can't just take my help for granted and expect me to help just because I have before!"

"Oh come on, Spinoza! How could you deny us help saving the world?"

"Easy, like this: I'm not going to get myself into any more of your schemes. Find another scientist."

"All right, we'll just go across the bridge to Meggiora and pay a visit to Sheridan. I'm sure that Aston will be happy to help us save the world and take all of the glory."

Spinoza looked up at Luke, disbelief plain on his face. "You wouldn't really do that, would you?"

Luke laughed. "Do you wanna find out?"

Spinoza furrowed his brow, but a smile was evidently tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I suppose you've got yourself a deal."


	5. Chapter 5: Another Doppelganger

**Chapter 5-Another Doppelganger! All Hope is Lost!?**

So far, the plan was working okay. So far.

Asch and Luke had traveled to opposite ends of the planet to execute it. Now it was just a matter of waiting for Van to get in place.

Earlier in the week, Spinoza had come up with a plan that would cause the least amount of trouble. He decided that Asch and Luke each needed to go to either the Radiation or Absorption Gate, where they would wait for Van to meet them. After Van was at one of the gates, whoever was at that gate with him would need to cause him to free Lorelei, then throw him into the gate, providing the planet with the jump start of Seventh Fonons that it needed to get things going and get the Seventh Fonon back into facilitation.

In theory, it should work, but a plan of this scale had never been tested before.

And so it went that Asch and Luke stood at their respective gates, waiting for Van to show up, so that they could save the world.

(Asch, is Van there yet?) Luke closed his eyes and connected with his perfect isofon.

(Stop asking, idiot, if he was you would be the first to know!)

(Sorry.)

They had been waiting for hours. It didn't help that they didn't know how Spinoza was going to get Van to go to the gates, much less which gate he would go to. It was times like these that made Luke feel like acting petulant, like the long-haired version would. Of course, he couldn't, because that was the old Luke, and—

"It's good to see you again, Luke." Luke looked up to see Van walking towards him casually. "I thought I would find you here. Spinoza told me that you were still considering restarting the Planet Storm. You are such a fool."

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about! This is what is best for Auldrant, and I'm going to make sure it happens!" Luke drew his sword from the sheath behind him.

"You intend to fight me? Alone? Nobody will save you if you lose, Luke."

"I won't lose."

Van laughed as he drew his sword. "Then we shall see…"

(Asch, Van's here! We are about to fight!)

(What are you talking about you stupid replica! He can't be there, he's here!)

Asch gripped his sword tighter where he stood, facing Van. Or was it Van? Luke said that Van was at the Radiation Gate. But here he was, standing at the Absorption Gate.

(No, he's here, I'm fighting him right now!)

Asch parried the blow that Van nearly landed on him. He jumped into the air and sank his blade into Van's arm when he landed. Van roared, but chased Asch relentlessly nonetheless. He swung his sword once, twice, three times, landing a blow on Asch's side. The thick armor prevented him from being cut, but it hurt anyways.

Asch jumped back from Van, out of breath.

"Are you really Van, or is this a ruse!?"

Whoever it was that was attacking Asch hadn't spoken a word since they had begun battling. In fact, he hadn't spoken a word at all. He just walked up to Asch and began attacking him.

(Asch! What's going on?)

(Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate!)

"Luke! Your fighting is careless. Do you want to die?" Van swung at Luke, blocked at the last second carelessly, allowing his sword to graze Luke's arm. Luke yelped, but began assaulting Van. He ran at him, sword raised, and swung, but Van jumped out of the way. When Luke turned around, he was greeted by a beam of light, and was blasted backwards against the pedestal. Van approached him and pointed his sword at Luke's neck.

"Any last words, foolish replica Luke?"

(Asch, he got me…)

(No! Wait! Don't give up yet!)

Asch landed the final blow on the man he was fighting, causing him to fall to the ground at Asch's feet. After a moment, the man started to fade away.

(I was fighting a replica, Luke! He must have gone after you thinking that you would be an easier target! You have to be careful, I'll be there as soon as I can!)

Asch turned around and ran towards the ramp. He stopped short when a well placed shot scored his arm, though. Looking up, he spotted Legretta

"It's over, Asch!" Legretta jumped down and landed in front of him, followed by Sync.

"There's nothing you can do now but cooperate! Don't give us any trouble!" Sync waved his hand and Asch's arms were bound behind his back.

(Luke, Legretta and Sync have me! I guess I won't be there after all.)

(What!? This is bad, we may die here. Wait…I know!)

Luke looked up at Van and began to laugh. "We did it, Master, we caught the renegade Asch. It's just as I planned with Spinoza. Everything is working great."

Van looked puzzled, but a look of satisfaction donned on his face. "I'm proud of you, Luke, that was a very conniving thing to do. I'm surprised…but still proud." Van extended his hand and pulled Luke up.

"We need to get to the Absorption Gate, where they are holding Asch."

"Yes, it is only a matter of time before he overpowers them. That man is resilient."

(Luke, what are you doing!?)

(Play along. We'll be out of this in no time…)


End file.
